More 2012: NH GOP chair quits

“Embattled New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball resigned last night, ending a bitter internal battle that pitted Tea Party activists against long-time Republicans,” the Boston Globe reports. “I have come to the conclusion that even during a vote if I were to win, and I know the odds are against that, it would be next to impossible for me to fulfill my obligations as chairman moving forward given what’s been against me,” Kimball said before the Republican Party’s Executive Committee’s scheduled vote on whether to oust him. Yet there were those crying out in the room, “Don’t do it Jack!”

“After the meeting, Kimball, who was elected to the post in late January and had once said he would not resign and vowed to fight his removal, acknowledged that he’d received ‘tremendous pressure’ and even political ‘threats,’” the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. “This was a very difficult decision,” he said. “I really, really cannot stand in the way any longer. People were looking at me as an obstacle to party unity, and I don’t want that.”

And this: “Kimball denied that he’d agreed to any deal to resign in exchange for elected party leaders — including the three GOP members of the congressional delegation — securing $200,000 from national GOP organizations for the party, part of which would be used to retire any outstanding party debt.”